Captain Blood
Directed by Michael Curtiz
1935/USA
Warner Bros
Repeat viewing
#88 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
[box] Dr. Peter Blood: Up that rigging, you monkeys! Aloft! There’s no chains to hold you now. Break out those sails and watch them fill with the wind that’s carrying us all to freedom![/box]
Captain Peter Blood (Errol Flynn) is living peacefully as a physician when he is called on to tend a wounded rebel. For his trouble, he is convicted of treason and transported to Jamaica as a slave. Arabella (Olivia de Havilland), the niece of a wealthy landowner (Lionel Atwill), admires Blood’s defiant spirit and buys him. Blood mightily resents this. His medical skills make him a favorite of the gouty Governor of the island and allow him to plan his escape and that of his comrades. The men soon turn pirate but Arabella and her uncle seem part of Blood’s fate. Also starring Basil Rathbone as the French pirate Levasseur and a host of Warner Brothers character actors.
This movie was the first pairing of Errol Flynn and the 18-year-old Olivia de Havilland and made them both stars. It drags a bit in spots but basically is an exciting romantic adventure with thrilling sword fights and sea battles and dynamite chemistry between the two leads. The magnificent score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold adds to the fun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXb1QqmrRNc
Trailer
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